Mubarak Resigns!

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Happy, happy, happy!

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Egypt's Revolution!

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Al Jazeera...

Jubilation in Tahrir at resignation

Crowds in central Cairo reacted with celebration to Omar Suleiman's announcement of Hosni Mubarak's resignation.

Last Modified: 11 Feb 2011 19:43 GMT

Crowds in central Cairo reacted with jubilation to Omar Suleiman's announcement of Hosni Mubarak's resignation.

Many responded by chanting "we have brought down the regime", while others were seen crying, cheering and embracing one another.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/2011211164636605699.html

Al Jazeera........

Egypt celebrates as Mubarak resigns
Hundreds of thousands celebrate as Egyptian president hands over power to the Supreme Council for the Armed Forces.
Last Modified: 11 Feb 2011 20:54 GMT

PART ONE...

Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, has resigned from his post, handing over power to the armed forces.

Omar Suleiman, the vice-president, announced in a televised address on Friday that the president was "waiving" his office, and had handed over authority to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

Suleiman's short statement was received with a roar of approval and by celebratory chanting and flag-waving from a crowd of hundreds of thousands in Cairo's Tahrir Square, as well as by other pro-democracy campaigners who attending protests across the country.
IN VIDEO

Tahrir Square responds to Mubarak's resignation

The top figure in Egypt's new regime is now Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, the country's defence minister.

After the announcement, he drove past Mubarak's former palace, where crowds cheered him. He stopped briefly to thank and hail the pro-democracy campaigners before driving in.

In its third statement to the nation since Thursday, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces said it was examining the situation "in order to materialise the aspirations of our great nation".

The statement said that "resolutions and statements regarding the ... actions to be followed" in order to achieve the demands of the people will be handed down later.

In the televised address, the spokesman also extended "greetings and appreciation" to Mubarak for his service to the country, and saluted the "marytrs and those who have fallen" during the protests.

'Dream come true'

The crowd in Tahrir responded to Suleiman's statement by chanting "we have brought down the regime", while many were seen crying, cheering and embracing one another.

Mohamed ElBaradei, a leading opposition leader, hailed the moment as being "a dream come true" while speaking to Al Jazeera.

"I can't tell you how every Egyptian feels today," he said. "We have been able to restore our humanity ... to be free and independent".

ElBaradei reiterated that Egypt now needs to return to stability, and proposed that a transition government be put in place for the next year.
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The government, he said, would include figures from the army, from the opposition and from other circles.

"We need to go on ... our priority is to make sure the country is restored as a socially cohesive, economically vibrant and ... democratic country," he said.

Ayman Nour, another opposition figure and a former president, told Al Jazeera that he would consider running for the presidency if there was consensus on his candidacy.

He called Friday "the greatest day in Egyptian history".

"This nation has been born again. These people have been born again, and this is a new Egypt."

Amr Moussa, the secretary-general of the Arab league, said on Friday that he would resign from his post, one that he has headed for about ten years, "within weeks". Some analysts say he may well run for the Egyptian presidency when elections are held.

Following Mubarak's announcement, our correspondent in Tahrir Square, said: "Tonight, after all of these weeks of frustration, of violence, of intimidation ... today the people of Egypt undoubtedly [feel they] have been heard, not only by the president, but by people all around the world."

CONTINUED...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/world/middleeast/12israel.html?hp

The New York Times...

February 11, 2011
Quiet Worries as Israel Watches an Ally Depart
By ETHAN BRONNER

JERUSALEM — As the streets of Gaza exploded with celebration on Friday night with masked Hamas militants marching defiantly to cheer the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Israelis reacted with quiet and deep concern because the regional leader on whom they had relied most was suddenly gone.

The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintained the same studied silence it has sustained for more than two weeks on the assumption that nothing it said could serve its interests: if it praised the pro-democracy movement, it would be seen as disloyal to its ally, Mr. Mubarak. If it favored Mr. Mubarak, it would be dismissed as a supporter of dictatorships.

But behind the scenes, officials willing to share their thoughts anonymously expressed worry because they believed that whoever followed Mr. Mubarak would be less friendly to Israel.

“We don’t know who will be running things in the coming months in Egypt, but we have to keep two things in mind,” one top official said. “The first is that the only example we have of this kind of thing in the region is Iran in 1979. You can’t take that out of your mind. The second is that if Egypt pulls back in any way from its peace with Israel, it will discourage anyone else in the region, including the Palestinians, from stepping forward. So the regional implications for us are significant.”

The official said it was more likely than not that Egypt would maintain its peace treaty with Israel and added that, in any case, relations with Israel would probably not be among the first concerns of the incoming Egyptian authorities.

Omar Suleiman, the former head of Egyptian intelligence who was recently named vice president by Mr. Mubarak, has long-standing relations with Israel and is respected here. But his role seems subordinate, at best, to the military council that appears to be running Egypt. Still, relations between the Israeli and Egyptian defense establishments have long been cordial. But officials worry that cooperative efforts could slow or halt.

Earlier this week, Mr. Netanyahu did speak publicly in Jerusalem about Egypt before a group called the European Friends of Israel. He laid out three possible situations if Mr. Mubarak resigned. “There are many possible outcomes beyond the liberal, democratic models that we take for granted in our own countries,” he said.

“First, Egyptians may choose to embrace the model of a secular reformist state with a prominent role for the military. There is a second possibility that the Islamists exploit the influence to gradually take the country into a reverse direction — not towards modernity and reform but backward.

“And there’s still a third possibility — that Egypt would go the way of Iran, where calls for progress would be silenced by a dark and violent despotism that subjugates its own people and threatens everyone else.”

Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, a former defense minister who developed a friendship with Mr. Mubarak over some 20 years, said by telephone — and also on Israeli television — that he had spoken with Mr. Mubarak hours before his Thursday night speech to the nation. Mr. Mubarak, he said, seemed to know he had no choice but to leave — and Mr. Ben-Eliezer agreed. But Mr. Mubarak saw great peril ahead.

“He spoke about a snowball that was starting to roll, which would not leave a single Arab state untouched in either the Middle East or North Africa,” Mr. Ben-Eliezer said. “He spoke of his disappointment with the Americans. He said, ‘You will have to grow accustomed to one fact — that you’re going to live in a radical Islamic world, and no one can promise what will happen tomorrow.’ For me, he was one of the pillars of the peace process.”

Israel’s entire strategic outlook relies in some fashion on its three-decade peace with Egypt. Thanks to the treaty, its military has minimal presence on its southern border, freeing it up for actions to the east and north; about 40 percent of Israel’s natural gas is imported from Egypt; Egypt has been supportive and helpful in negotiating with the Palestinians; Egypt has played a big role in stopping the smuggling of weapons and militants into Gaza, and in helping Israel in its blockade policy aimed at squeezing Hamas.

The other regional countries that have diplomatic relations with Israel — Jordan and Turkey — have cooled significantly in recent years, especially after Israel’s 2006 war in Lebanon and its 2008-9 war in Gaza.

The marches in Gaza on Friday, a rare open display by armed uniformed militants on the streets, showed that the Egyptian policy toward Hamas would most likely change and had, in fact, already loosened. The border has been breached repeatedly in the past two weeks by Hamas, which has brought back its militants from Egyptian prisons. Hamas officials are calling on Egypt to open its border with Gaza completely. And last weekend, a gas pipeline in the Sinai exploded, apparently as a result of sabotage, disrupting the supply to Israel and Jordan.

The marchers in Gaza chanted against Mr. Mubarak and also against President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, whom they consider a traitor. One of Israel’s fears is that the decline of Mr. Mubarak will strengthen Hamas and weaken the more moderate Palestinian Authority.

Eli Shaked, Israel’s ambassador to Cairo from 2003 to 2005 and deputy ambassador there from 1989 to 1992, gave a bleak analysis of Egypt’s prospects to move toward democracy, saying by telephone that it had too few institutions, educated people and political parties to move to a democratic system. He feared that the only force organized enough to take over was the Muslim Brotherhood, which he described as anti-American, anti-Israel and anti-peace.

Isabel Kershner contributed reporting from Jerusalem, and Fares Akram from Gaza.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/world/middleeast/12mubarak.html?hp

The New York Times...

February 11, 2011
History Upends Icon of Stability in Egypt
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN

PART ONE...

Hosni Mubarak’s legacy was supposed to be stability. During almost three decades in power, he rejected bold action in favor of caution. He took half-steps at economic liberalization, preserved the peace with Israel, gave his police force the power to arrest without charge and allowed only the veneer of democracy to take hold.

But history upended Mr. Mubarak, and his fall came as suddenly and surprisingly as his unlikely elevation to the presidency 30 years ago. Mr. Mubarak’s Egypt rose up against him. The streets and squares filled with hundreds of thousands of protesters day and night until he could no longer deny the inescapable conclusion that in order to restore stability, he needed to go.

It was an unexpected epitaph for a military man who until recently was revered — and reviled — as Egypt’s modern-day pharaoh, serving longer than any contemporary Egyptian leader since Mohammed Ali, the founder of the modern state.

“He’s the accident of history who brilliantly survived as the longest accidental ruler of Egypt,” said Emad Shahin, an Egyptian scholar at the University of Notre Dame who, like many other Egyptians living abroad, rushed to Tahrir Square in recent days to share in the moment.

In his final appearance on state television on Thursday, when he astounded most of his listeners by appearing to say he would remain in office, he was no longer the stocky, confident military man who was the only leader most Egyptians had ever really known. At 82, he was frail and thin, with dyed black hair and a sometimes poignant undercurrent of self-justification.

The Egyptian public, Egyptian political and military leaders, and American officials all expected him to say he was handing over power. But he apparently could not bring himself to say so, clinging to his vision of himself as a reluctant leader tapped by fate to lead a nation that could not survive without his guiding hand.

With his authority already belittled by the crowds in the streets, with the people no longer silenced by the fear his security apparatus had enforced, his words served only to demonstrate how out of touch he had become.

“I have given my life serving Egypt and the people,” he said, suggesting it was he who was tired of them, and not the other way around.

He failed this time using tactics that had so long sustained his rule: the ability to divide and conquer the masses, to anesthetize the population with promises, pay raises, subsidies and government reshuffling. He spoke of preserving his dignity, but that is exactly what the crowds in the street were fighting for.

During his tenure, Egypt’s population doubled to more than 80 million. Life grew harder as the social contract between the state and citizens broke down. Satellite television and the Internet meant the state could no longer control what people knew, and so its narrative was often ignored or even mocked.

The gap between rich and poor became greater, and politics became less ideological and more about common demands: for freedom, democracy, social justice, rule of law and economic equality.

Mr. Mubarak’s government struggled to prevent people’s economic dissatisfaction from becoming political, but in the end, that failed too. As he feared, the Egyptian people blamed the entire system.

But perhaps most of all, Mr. Mubarak’s concept of stability — one that was embraced by Washington — in the end proved the ultimate destabilizer, experts in Egypt said. Facing a police state that choked off competing ideas and ideologies, preventing free elections and manipulating state media, the public found the only way to achieve its goals was by taking to the streets, occupying the symbolic heart of the nation, Tahrir Square, and refusing to go home.

Mr. Mubarak leaves office now with the country’s future more uncertain than at any time since assassins killed Anwar el-Sadat, elevating Mr. Mubarak to the presidency.

“The idea of integration did not exist in Egypt under Mubarak,” said Amr El Shobaki, a political analyst at the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in an interview before the crisis. “When they see the opposition, they only think, ‘How do we eliminate them?’ We have a lot of issues in society, political and social, and we don’t have any legal body to express these demands or needs. This is our crisis.”

The people found a way, organized by social media and old-fashioned political mobilization, united by anger and hope.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/world/middleeast/12global.html?hp

The New York Times...

February 11, 2011
World Leaders Cheer but Remain Wary
By J. DAVID GOODMAN

As the streets of Cairo erupted in celebration, leaders and officials around the world greeted the departure of President Hosni Mubarak on Friday with full-throated expressions of support for the people of Egypt along with some measured words of caution ahead for an uncertain period of political transition.

Across a region that has seen online social networks lead to real-world social upheaval, many officials released their first statements via Twitter.

“Egypt takes the Arab world into a new era. Let’s make it a better one,” Bahrain’s foreign minister, Sheik Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa, wrote on the social networking site. With protests planned for next week in Bahrain, the kingdom also said on Friday it would give cash payments equal to $2,650 to every family, Reuters reported.

Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, sounded somewhat of a cautious note after congratulating the Egyptian people on the success of nearly three weeks of protests demanding that Mr. Mubarak step down. “Egypt is a strong state and the continuity of the Egyptian institutions is of crucial importance,” he wrote.

But regional leaders who had feared change in Egypt — a group including other Middle East autocrats — made few public statements on Friday. The Israeli government, which has counted on Egypt as one of its few allies in the Arab world, had not issued a formal statement by evening. By contrast, Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, celebrated the news and called on the new government in Egypt to open its border with the territory.

The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, was one of the few to refer to Mr. Mubarak, albeit indirectly. “I respect what must have been a difficult decision taken in the wider interests of the Egyptian people,” he said in a statement. He said young Egyptians in particular had made their voices heard and would help determine the nation’s future.

And Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, one of the first Western leaders to make a televised public statement, called the situation in Egypt a “precious moment of opportunity” but only a “first step.”

“Those who now run Egypt have a duty to reflect the wishes of the Egyptian people,” he said, which means a “move to civilian and democratic rule.”

Like Mr. Cameron, those who expressed caution about the future appeared to be reacting to the possibility that Mr. Mubarak’s departure did not necessarily mean democratic changes would be made quickly.

Mr. Mubarak handed power over to the country’s well-respected military, which has promised political reforms. But it remains unclear if military leaders will make the types of fundamental changes needed to ensure a true democracy.

In a Twitter statement, Germany’s foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, called the moment “historic,” but added that “the chance for democratic change must be used now.”

Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said at a news conference that by standing down, Mr. Mubarak had “listened to the voices of the Egyptian people and has opened the way to faster and deeper reforms.”

“It is important now that the dialogue is accelerated leading to a broad-based government which will respect the aspirations of, and deliver stability for, the Egyptian people,” she added.

The president of the European Union parliament, Jerzy Buzek, went further, suggesting that the shift in power was not enough to judge the protests’ success. “Europe will measure the next steps in the fulfillment of the people’s demand by repealing the emergency laws and by ending all intimidation of journalists, human rights defenders or political dissidents,” he said Friday, The Associated Press reported.

There were wire reports of celebrations around the region and fireworks in Gaza and Beirut. On the Hezbollah-run television station Al Manar, an Egyptian anchor Amr Nassef cried on the air, The Associated Press reported, quoting him as saying: “Allahu Akbar, the pharaoh is dead. Am I dreaming? I’m afraid to be dreaming.”

Speaking on Friday before news of Mr. Mubarak’s departure had been confirmed, Canada’s prime minister, Stephen Harper, predicted that protesters would eventually prevail. “I think the old expression is: ‘They’re not going to put the toothpaste back in the tube on this one,’” he said, according to Canadian news agencies, urging the new government to “make a bright future happen for the people of Egypt.”

Liz Heron contributed reporting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/world/middleeast/12diplomacy.html?hp

The New York Times...

February 11, 2011
President Obama Praises Egyptian People and Army
By DAVID E. SANGER

WASHINGTON — President Obama offered Egypt “whatever assistance is necessary and asked for to pursue a credible transition to a democracy,” and said the events of the past few days have made clear that nothing but genuine democracy would satisfy its people.

“Egypt will never be the same” after the street revolution that deposed President Hosni Mubarak, Mr. Obama said. Praising Egypt’s military for its behavior during the crisis, he urged the military council taking over the country to “ensure a transition that is credible in the eyes of the Egyptian people.”

“That means protecting the rights of Egypt’s citizens, lifting the emergency law, revising the constitution and other laws to make this change irreversible, and laying out a clear path to elections that are fair and free,” he said. “Above all, this transition must bring all of Egypt’s voices to the table, for the spirit of peaceful protest and perseverance that the Egyptian people have shown can serve as a powerful wind at the back of this change.”

Standing in the foyer of the White House, where just a week before he had started to press Mr. Mubarak for reforms without calling for his resignation, Mr. Obama described the Egyptian uprising as a model of nonviolence and moral force “that bent the arc of history.” He compared it to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the uprising in Indonesia that brought democracy to another Muslim country.

The president promised to continue American support for Egypt — which gets $1.3 billion in military aid each year, and a comparatively small amount, $250 million of economic aid — but suggested that American support would depend in part on the speed and enthusiasm with which reform took place. He called for an immediate lifting of the emergency laws that allowed Mr. Mubarak to silence his opponents.

But as Mr. Obama spoke, White House officials were racing to assess the impact of 18 days that changed the politics of the Middle East and upended American strategy. Officials wondered, in background conversations, whether Iran, Syria or Pakistan could be next, even as they tried to soothe angry allies, led by Saudi Arabia, who argued that the United States had abandoned a long-time ally.

Mr. Obama barely mentioned Mr. Mubarak, focusing his praise on the young people and on a military who “would not fire bullets” into the crowds that gathered in Tahrir Square. He struck a decidedly optimistic tone about Egypt’s future, repeating lines from his own presidential campaign in 2008, saying that Egyptians could now create a government that “represented their hopes and not their fears.”

PART TWO...

(Page 2 of 2)

Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel Laureate and Egyptian opposition figure said, “Egypt has been going down the drain for the last few weeks and we need to get it back to where it should be.” He added, “We need a democratic country based on social justice.”

There were voices of caution as well. Abdel-Rahman Samir, a protest organizer, said the movement would open negotiations with the military, but said demonstrations should also continue to ensure changes are carried out.

“We still don’t have any guarantees yet — if we end the whole situation now it’s like we haven’t done anything,” Mr. Samir told the Associated Press. “So we need to keep sitting in Tahrir until we get all our demands.”

In the United States, Vice President Joseph R. Biden called Mr. Mubarak’s departure a “pivotal” development. The European Union welcomed the shift in leadership and also emphasized its desire to see changes that lead to “a broad-based government.”

In Switzerland, the foreign ministry said in a statement that it had frozen possible assets of “the former Egyptian president” and his associates.

The military has been far more popular among the Egyptian people than the government of Mr. Mubarak, even though Mr. Mubarak and many of his top officials had military backgrounds. Its standing was reinforced by its signals of support for the people’s demands, repeated visits to Tahrir Square by top generals, and its decision not to forcibly suppress the protests.

In its communiqué on Friday, the military reiterated that it intends to supervise political change, but also largely stuck to the main constitutional and electoral reforms that Mr. Mubarak and Mr. Suleiman had already promised to implement. Whether those changes are sufficient — and whether they can be carried out quickly enough — to satisfy protesters remains to be seen.

It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Suleiman would retain a role, under the military council, in running the country.

In Tahrir Square, the focal point of the uprising, many protesters were overcome with the emotion of achieving their unlikely but determined quest to overthrow Mr. Mubarak. More than an hour after Mr. Suleiman spoke, the din was undiminished, as the celebrants, some in tears, shouted, sang, embraced and chanted. The slogan of the revolution, “The people want to bring down the regime,” adopted from Tunisia, became, “The people, at last, have brought down the regime.”

Parents were seen putting their children on the tanks to have their photos snapped with the soldiers, while the soldiers reached down to shake hands with the protesters and people chanted, “The people and the army are one hand.” In a show of solidarity in at least lower levels of the army, three Egyptian officers shed their weapons and uniforms and joined the protesters.

“Now, we can breathe fresh air, we can feel our freedom,” said Dr. Gamal Heshamt, a former member of Parliament and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. “Now we can start to build our country. After 30 years of absence from the world, Egypt is back.”

Some people waved Tunisian flags, while young women danced on the hulking remains of burned-out armored personnel carriers.

The Qasr al-Nil bridge, the sight of ugly fighting between the protesters and Mubarak supporters, was crammed from one end to the next with people cheering and chanting, “Egypt! Egypt! Egypt!” It was here two weeks ago, that thousands of unarmed protesters beat back a six-hour assault by thousands of riot police armed with shields, clubs, tear gas and water cannons to march in to the square.

It was here 10 days that the same unarmed protesters organized themselves into brigades to break up the pavement into stone missiles to use as ammunition in a14-hour battle to hold the square against an army of club-wielding toughs loyal to Mr. Mubarak.

And it was here that they continued to call down hundreds of thousands of protesters even as the United States and the rest of the West began to rally around the idea of a gradual, tentative political transition that left Mr. Mubarak in power.

The protesters said throughout that only the ouster of Mr. Mubarak would demonstrate their power thoroughly enough to ensure that no new strongman might try to reconsolidate power. And on Friday they said they were ready to proclaim victory.

“Our country never had a victory in our lifetime, and this is the sort of victory we were looking for, a victory over a vicious regime that we needed to bring down,” said Shady el-Ghazaly Harb, a 32-year-old transplant surgeon who was among the small group of organizers who guided the revolution.

“After the celebration, we are going to insist on a civil government to run our country for the transition. We are not going to ask the people to stay in the square or leave — it is their choice,” he added. “Even if they leave any government will now that we can get them to the streets again in a minute.”

David D. Kirkpatrick and Anthony Shadid reported from Cairo. Reporting was contributed by Kareem Fahim, Liam Stack, Mona El-Naggar and Thanassis Cambanis from Cairo, and Alan Cowell from Paris.

The New York Times...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/world/middleeast/12egypt.html?_r=1&hp

MUBARAK STEPS DOWN
Egypt’s Military Officially Takes Control
As Crowds in Cairo Erupt in Jubilation

PART ONE...

Mubarak Steps Down, Ceding Power to Military
Moises Saman for The New York Times

Crowds in Tahrir Square in Cairo reacted to the announcement on Friday. More Photos »
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and ANTHONY SHADID
Published: February 11, 2011

CAIRO — Egypt erupted in a joyous celebration of the power of a long repressed people on Friday as President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt resigned his post and ceded control to the military, ending his nearly 30 years of autocratic rule.

Shouts of “God is Great” competed with fireworks and car horns around Cairo after Mr. Mubarak’s vice president and longtime intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, announced during evening prayers that Mr. Mubarak had passed all authority to a council of military leaders, bowing to a historic popular uprising that has transformed politics in Egypt and around the Arab world.

Protesters hugged and cheered and shouted, “Egypt is free!” and “You’re an Egyptian, lift your head.”

“He’s finally off our throats,” said one protester, Muhammad Insheemy. “Soon, we will bring someone good.”

The departure of the 82-year-old Mr. Mubarak, at least initially to his coastal resort home in Sharm el-Sheik, was a pivotal turn in a nearly three-week revolt that has upended one of the Arab’s world’s most enduring dictatorships. The popular protests — peaceful and resilient despite numerous efforts by Mr. Mubarak’s legendary security apparatus to suppress them — ultimately deposed an ally of the United States who has been instrumental in implementing American policy in the region for decades.

Mr. Mubarak’s fall also came three weeks to the day after a sudden revolt in Tunisia toppled another enduring strongman, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia — a domino effect that may upend conventional wisdom about the passivity of the Arab street and the staying power of authoritarian governments in the region. Monarchies and one-party dictatorships still hold sway in many countries in the region, including Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Yemen.

“Taking into consideration the difficult circumstances the country is going through, President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave the post of president of the republic and has tasked the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to manage the state’s affairs,” Mr. Suleiman, grave and ashen, said in a brief televised statement.

President Obama reacted to the news Friday afternoon with effusive praise for the Egyptian people, especially its youth. “Egyptians have inspired us, and they’ve done so by putting the lie to the idea that justice is best gained through violence,” he said.

Mr. Mubarak’s departure came after a 24-hour period that mixed celebration and anger, as Egypt and the outside world at first anticipated Mr. Mubarak’s imminent resignation on Thursday afternoon, then recoiled in outrage when he continued to cling to power in a combative televised address Thursday night.

Whether Mr. Mubarak’s speech represented a real attempt to hold on to power, or a prideful, deluded assertion of influence in defiance of political reality, was not immediately clear. But Obama administration officials said Friday that Egyptian officials explained that Mr. Mubarak had in fact been removed from his posts in favor of a military council and that the transfer of power was well under way.

The shift leaves the military in charge of this nation of 80 million, facing insistent calls for fundamental democratic change and open elections. The military has repeatedly promised to respond to the demands of protesters. But it has little recent experience in directly governing the country, and will have to defuse demonstrations and labor strikes that have paralyzed the economy and left many of the country’s institutions, including state news media and the security forces, in shambles.

Shortly before the announcement of Mr. Mubarak’s departure, the military issued a communiqué pledging to carry out a variety of constitutional reforms in a statement remarkable for its commanding tone. The military’s statement mentioned Mr. Mubarak’s earlier delegation of power to Mr. Suleiman, but also suggested that it would oversee implementation of the reforms.

Among Egypt’s scattered but triumphant opposition, the initial reaction to Mr. Mubarak’s departure and the military’s assertion of authority was ecstatic.

“Egypt is going to be a fully democratic state,” said Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who helped organize the youth-led protests and became one of the movement’s most prominent spokesmen. “You will be impressed.”

CONTINUED...

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Photo: Crowds erupted in jubilation on Friday at the news of President Hosni Mubarak's resignation.

Egyptians erupt in joy as Mubarak steps down

By the CNN Wire Staff
February 11, 2011 4:17 p.m. EST

Hosni Mubarak steps down

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down Friday and handed over power to the military -- three decades of his iron-clad rule ended by an 18-day revolution that could ripple across the Arab world.

In a somber one-minute announcement on state television, Vice President Omar Suleiman said Mubarak had resigned and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces will "run the affairs of the country."

Tens of thousands of emotional Egyptians exploded in deafening cheers on the streets of Cairo, electric with excitement. It was a moment they had anticipated throughout long days of relentless demonstrations -- sometimes violent -- that demanded Mubarak's departure.

It was also a moment that had been to many unimaginable in the Arab world's powerhouse nation.

"Egypt is free!" and "God is Great!" they chanted in the honeymoon of their success. They waved Egyptian flags, honked horns and set off fireworks as they savored the scene that just days ago had seemed unimaginable.

Two major bridges over the Nile River resembled congested parking lots, and Cairo neighborhoods that had been empty hours before became scenes of festive street parties.The state-run Middle East News Agency said some people had passed out from joy and others had even suffered heart attacks.

"It was a sense of liberation for me, for every Egyptian," said opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei.

"For the first time, Egypt has a chance to be democratic, to be free, to have a sense of dignity, of freedom. So it's amazing. It's just like something we never experienced in our lifetime."

A source with close connections to Persian Gulf government leaders told CNN that Mubarak, 82, had fled to the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, his presidency finished as abruptly and surprisingly as it had started when he ascended to power after the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981.

The Swiss government moved quickly Friday to freeze all assets belonging to Mubarak and his family, said Norbert Baerlocher, a spokesman for the Swiss Embassy in Washington.

The banks do not as yet have a clear picture of Mubarak's holdings but protesters on the streets had expressed concerns that the strongman would attempt to flee the country with looted money.

In a televised speech Thursday night, Mubarak had indicated he was delegating authority to Suleiman but refused to resign, as had been expected. Deeply disappointed crowds calling for his ouster kept swelling throughout the day in Cairo and in other major cities.

Friday night, the protesters got what they wanted all along.

But amid the euphoria, ElBaradei sounded words of caution. He urged Egyptians to stay united beyond the moment.

"We have challenges ahead of us," said the Nobel laureate whom many believe could emerge as Egypt's next leader. "I think we need to not worry about retribution. Mubarak needs to go and we need to look forward."

Wael Ghonim, the Egyptian activist who became a reluctant hero of the revolution said only one word would be used to describe Mubarak in history books: "dictator."

"I want to say: 'Welcome back Egypt," he told CNN.

Ghonim -- a Google executive who is on leave from his job and whose Facebook page is credited with triggering the popular uprising -- was seized by security forces and released Monday. His words and tears in a television interview galvanized the protesters in Tahrir Square.

He said he knew Mubarak would be forced out after a revolt in Tunisia forced its leader out in January, and he said he believed the military can be trusted to respect the demands of the protesters.

Many of the anti-government protesters had been calling for Egypt's powerful army, well-respected within the country, to take over as interim caretakers. Friday night, they voiced optimism that the military would pave the way for free and fair elections.

All through the uprising, the military has both responded to the protesters but defended Mubarak's regime. It showed signs that it was assuming a greater role when the supreme council met Thursday without Mubarak, then still the supreme commander of the armed forces.

Friday, it issued a second communique stating that Egypt's state of emergency laws, used by Mubarak to rule with an iron hand, would be lifted but only after conditions allowed.

After Mubarak stepped down, a military spokesman tiptoed through neutral territory on state television as he expressed appreciation to the former president on one hand, and also saluted the "martyrs," an apparent reference to all those who died in the protests.

Human Rights Watch documented 300 deaths since the uprising began January 25. Many of the pitched battles between security forces and Mubarak's foes unfolded in the same places that were scenes of utter jubilation Friday night.

But it's uncertain what will come next in the most populous nation of the Arab world, and how Egypt's revolution, which succeeded on the 32nd anniversary of Iran's, will reverberate throughout the region.

U.S. President Barack Obama was notified of Mubarak's decision Friday morning, said Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the National Security Council, and was closely watching the extraordinary developments unfold in Egypt, a key U.S. ally.

He will make a statement Friday afternoon, the White House said.

Mubarak's decision to step down is "obviously a welcome step," said a U.S. official involved in the Egypt discussions. Now comes "an unpredictable next chapter," the official added. It is "a sign the military chose society."

Amre Moussa, the secretary-general of the Arab League, said Egyptians were excited about a different future.

"What I want to assure you is that all of us here in Egypt, old and young, north and south, women and men, everybody, is looking forward to a better future," he said.

A high-ranking Egyptian military official said the army's command was discussing whether to dismiss Mubarak's government and parliament and also when the next election would be held. An announcement was expected later Friday.

But some analysts were already sounding the alarm over the takeover by the military, which has suddenly become accountable for the nation.

"Suleiman's statement is the clearest indication thus far that the military has carried out a coup led by Defense Minister Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi," analysts with the Stratfor global intelligence company said in a statement.

"Egypt is returning to the 1952 model of ruling the state via a council of army officers. The question now is to what extent the military elite will share power with its civilian counterparts," the statement said.

Amnesty International, whose staffers had been among human rights workers and journalists detained by Egyptian authorities during the uprising, congratulated Egyptians for "their extraordinary courage and commitment to achieve fundamental change."

But it warned that the departure of one man did not mean an end to a police state.

"The repressive system that Egyptians have suffered under for three decades has not gone away and the state of emergency remains in place," said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International's secretary general.

"Those in power must grasp this opportunity to consign the systematic abuses of the past to history. Human rights reform must begin now," Shetty said.

CNN's Amir Ahmed, Nic Robertson and Caroline Faraj contributed to this report.